2018 in Pictures

I love to write this post every year. It gives me a chance to look back and reminds me that even if the year was not perfect, that there was a lot of good in the year. This was a crazy busy year! I traveled for work more than I ever have, but I guess that’s what happens when you work for a race organization that has races around the country. So, here we go…

January

January was a quiet month for me on the racing front, but that’s ok as I was concentrating on building strength and getting in shape for the year to come. I got invited back to the Altra Red Team and I spent a lot of time in my workout room. I also made some predictions for 2018. (Spoiler: I was spot on LOL)

February

February started with being invited back as a Skirt Sports ambassador. We all know I’d wear Altra and Skirt Sports regardless, but I love being associated with two awesome companies. I finally started getting some running in again, but I continued with the Faster Way to Fat Loss.  Thankfully, all that weight lifting ended up making me a stronger runner, despite lower mileage. It was also an oddly warm month, so I ran more in tank tops than in layers.

March

Things started picking up in March! I traveled to Texas for the ZOOMA Texas race. I managed to both work and run the race and had a fabulous time away from the DC dreariness. Once back in winter, I also ran the Marine Corps 17.75 to get the golden ticket to run the Marine Corps Marathon for my 5th time. I also ran my first timed trail race. Newsflash: I’m hella slow on trails.

April

April was a busy month! I volunteered for Ragnar at the Cherry Blossom Expo (and got to meet Meb!). I ran the Reston Half Marathon, volunteered for a local 5K, ran the Petersburg Half Marathon, went to a Nascar race, and ran the Inaugural National Women’s Half Marathon in DC. Surprisingly, the Women’s Half was my fastest half marathon in years! Apparently lifting weights a lot actually made a difference.

May

May started off with a bang. I ran my 75th half marathon at the Frederick Half Marathon. But I also walked away from the finish line with an injury that would plague me for the rest of the year. I celebrated my blog’s 10th anniversary and ran the fewest miles in a month than I had in years. Beer Geek and I also celebrated our 13th anniversary and took a kid free trip to Colorado, where we hiked all the hikes and drank all the beer.

June

June started off with the amazing Skirt Sports ambassador retreat. I got to spend 48 hours with some of my favorite ladies who I don’t see nearly often enough. Despite my injury, I ran the 5k at the retreat and then ran my first ultra Ragnar. I didn’t realize that I could love Ragnar more, but running it as an ultra was absolutely my favorite way to run. Then, at the end of the month, we hopped a plane for two weeks in New Zealand and Australia.

July

What better way to start a month than a half marathon in a foreign country? Ok, maybe it would have been better if we hadn’t spent the previous day at a huge beer festival. But despite the hangover, the lack of training, and my injury, I finished my second international half marathon at the Women’s Half Marathon in New Zealand. Then we headed to Australia where I didn’t get to race, but did run all over Sydney. The rest of July paled in comparison while I struggled with my injury and the Virginia summer.

August

August continued to be a low mileage month. I took weeks off in hopes of healing in time to train for the Marine Corps Marathon. (Spoiler: it did not work.) The boys and I also made our annual trip to Wisconsin and Beer Geek joined me there for the Great Taste of the Midwest and my annual run with Madison friends. I also took advantage of the opportunity to check out the ZOOMA Great Lakes course and meet up again with Marcia. Additionally, I hit the ripe old age of 48.

September

September kicked off race season for me. Except this year was a bit different than past years – most of my races in the fall were races I was working instead of running. I continued to not train for MCM, getting in only one long “training run” at the Clarendon Day Double race. I also traveled to Wisconsin for ZOOMA Great Lakes, where I worked three nearly 12 hour days. I went with the theory that time on my feet was going to have to count as training. To round out the month, I headed to Cape Cod for another ZOOMA race and a few too many hours on my feet.

October

October has always been a crazy month around here. I’m usually wrapping up Marine Corps Marathon training, both boys have birthdays, school always seems busy, and MCM ends the month. This year I added in volunteering at a beer festival, traveling to ZOOMA Florida, and a couple of business trips for Beer Geek. Despite all the craziness and lack of actual training, I pulled off my 5th Marine Corps Marathon finish and earned my Runners Club status. (This means I can bypass the lottery and enter the race each year. I may have declared I’m not running MCM in 2019, but, umm, we’ll see.)

November

With all the craziness behind me, I took November off. OK, not completely, but I did not run except a few miles when I felt like it. I tried to get back on the weight lifting band wagon. I did lots of projects around the house, got caught up on work, and basically took it easy. I did volunteer at two 5ks, but I didn’t run any actual races, and I was ok with that. 

December

How does one accidentally renovate their kitchen? OK, maybe it wasn’t an accident, but it was a rather sudden decision. I bought a new stove on Black Friday and by December 7th, I had a newly renovated (bottom half) of my kitchen. I still have a lot of work to do, but the improvement was amazing! I also ran my 77th half marathon at Rehoboth Beach. I love that race and am already stalking the website to run it again in 2019. Despite my lack of training in November, it went surprisingly well. The rest of December was a whirlwind of parties and friends and the Shoo and I headed off to Arizona for Christmas with my family. My crazy husband and older son drove across country to meet us! In a surprising turn of events, I chose not to run the ultra I was planning, nor did I run a local half marathon. Instead, I’ve been focusing on being present with my family and giving my body some downtime. I’ve run a couple of short runs and hiked some. It’s nice to take it easy for a bit.

All in all, 2018 was a pretty good year. I went into it without a lot of goals and I was ok with that. I needed some time to adapt to working more hours and traveling for work. I feel like I’m ready to move forward with some actual goals for 2019. 

This is my last post for 2018, so Happy New Year! I’ll see you in 2019!